Substantial attention has recently been paid to developing systems which enable poles, masts, antennas and the like to be rapidly deployed from a compact position to a fully extended position. In this regard, numerous activities require the rapid deployment of elongated poles, antennas, masts, etc., as well as the rapid removal and/or compaction of the pole or antenna after use.
In attempting to meet this demand, several systems have been developed which provide extendable and retractable masts, polls, or antennae. However, these prior at systems are extremely difficult to operate in a continuous and reliable manner. In addition, these prior art systems are typically very heavy, thereby being difficult to transport. As a result, the use of these prior art systems is limited to being employed only where transportation equipment is available.
Furthermore, these prior art systems typically require complex internal constructions in order to achieve the desired rapid extension of the plurality of segments. In this regard, these complex interconnected elements are extremely difficult to assemble, causing the resulting product to be expensive. Furthermore, the complex component construction reduces the reliability of the system and causes repairs to be extremely difficult, as well as often required.
Presently, there are numerous commercial and military applications and instances in which a rapidly deployable, highly portable, telescopically extendable and retractable multi-element systems are required. In particular, in many circumstances, products such as telescopes, microphones, audio listening devices, site providing devices, measuring instruments, weather sensing devices, and the like, must be rapidly deployed in an elevated manner in order to obtain the information being sought.
In this regard, the ability to securely affix a particular instrument or device to a mounting platform and rapidly raise the platform to an elevated location for positioning the particular device in an optimum location is often required in broad, all-inclusive, multi-discipline areas and/or fields. However, in spite of the broad based commercial demand that has existed for portable, reliable, and dependable telescopically extendable multi-element systems, no prior art system has been created which is capable of satisfying all of the demands and requirements desired by end users.
Therefore, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a telescopically extendable and retractable multi-element system which is light-weight, while also being capable of supporting heavy instruments or devices.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a telescopically extendable and retractable multi-element system having the characteristic features described above which is capable of enabling any device or equipment supported thereon to be quickly and easily raised to an elevated level, while also enabling the supported device to be quickly and easily lowered for removal and rapid transportation to another location.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a telescopically extendable and retractable multi-element system having the characteristic features described above wherein the plurality of elements forming the telescopically extendable system of the present invention cooperate with each other to be quickly and easily longitudinally extended in a rapid, and easily employed manner.
Other and more specific objects will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.